head to head · open source
gspread vs KillerPDF
gspread has 7,514 GitHub stars, 980 forks, 73 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. KillerPDF has 4,289 stars, 342 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gspread leads on adoption by 75% (7,514 vs 4,289 stars). gspread is written in Python under MIT; KillerPDF is written in C# under GPL-3.0. gspread has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, KillerPDF 8%. KillerPDF was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| gspread | KillerPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.5K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | C# |
| Last push | 2026-07-30 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 980 | ⑂ 342 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gspread if
- You weight community size — 7.5K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick KillerPDF if
- You want the KillerPDF feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and KillerPDF fits your workflow better
About gspread
Google Spreadsheets Python API v4 Maintainer needed We are sorry to announce that we are currently unable to maintain Gspread. We are looking for new maintainers to keep up the good work. Feel free to reach out to us using this issue 1570 Overview Simple interface for working with Google Sheets. Features: Open a spreadsheet by title , key or URL . Read, write, and format cell ranges. Sharing and access control. Batching updates. Installation Requirements: Python 3.8+. Basic Usage 1. Create credentials in Google API Console 2. Start using gspread v5.12 to v6.0 Migration Guide Upgrade from Python 3.7 Python 3.7 is…
read the full gspread overview →
About KillerPDF
KillerPDF is a free, open source PDF editor for Windows. View, annotate, OCR, merge, split, edit text, draw, sign, fill forms, print, flatten, and open password protected PDFs without an Adobe subscription. Choose the compact Windows installer or the self contained portable edition. Document processing stays on your computer, with no telemetry. Full how tos live on the help page; internals, formats, and limits on the technical page. The KillerPDF.Engine KillerPDF 1.8 introduces The KillerPDF.Engine, an independent and reusable .NET library for PDF 2.0, PDF/A, and PDF/UA document processing. It is a first class…
read the full KillerPDF overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gspread or KillerPDF more popular?
gspread has 7,514 GitHub stars and KillerPDF has 4,289. gspread has the larger community by that measure.
Are gspread and KillerPDF free?
Both are open source. gspread is licensed under MIT and KillerPDF under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gspread and KillerPDF?
gspread is written in Python and KillerPDF in C#. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gspread or KillerPDF?
Choose gspread if you want the larger community (7,514 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose KillerPDF if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.